God willing: Watch what you say when others are suffering

When tragedy hits, think twice before claiming what God intended.

Of the many issues that drove last November’s election, few might have guessed that “God’s will” would become a major spoiler in the Indiana Senate race. When GOP candidate Richard Mourdock suggested that a life created through rape is “something God intended,” it cost him an easy path to victory. But while pundits and Democrats were quick to make as much political hay as possible out of Mourdock’s gaffe, only a few commentators, theologians, and pastors took it on.

Words fail us: Parishioners respond to the new Missal a year later

Reporting straight from the pews after a year of the new translations, U.S. Catholic readers say they are still stumbling through the prayers.

Stilted, awkward, unnatural, strange, choppy, clumsy, obtuse. If you read these words in a movie review, would you head for the ticket line or run in the opposite direction? What about wooden, tortured, terrible, ridiculous, inaccessible, or abominable? Are you at least intrigued by what could warrant such description? Would you want to check it out once a week?

Building and sustaining communities in a world of social media

Fifty years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the church faces new challenges. In this final installment of a three-part series, Rev. Verity A Jones explains how social media can throw relationships and communities into high relief, including communities of faith.

The Rev. Verity A. Jones is the executive director of the Center for Pastoral Excellence at the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis and the director of the New Media Project (newmediaprojectatunion.org). She is an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

What is the future of the liturgy?

Fifty years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the church faces new challenges. In this final installment of a three-part series, Father Anthony Ruff says the best way to defend the church’s liturgical renewal is to celebrate the reformed liturgy as well as possible.

Father Anthony Ruff, O.S.B. teaches liturgy and liturgical music at St. John's University School of Theology-Seminary in Collegeville, Minnesota. He blogs at Pray Tell and served on the International Comission on English in the Liturgy until he was removed for publicly criticizing the new missal translation.

Advance bishop

Moving a bishop should be more than an ecclesiastical game of chess.

Climbing the corporate ladder in our business-driven culture is generally applauded. Who doesn’t want the corner office, the big salary, and the perks of joining the true “company men” (who are still usually men, after all)? Staying in the same job or with the same company for too long can suggest a lack of ambition, and it certainly doesn’t improve one’s marketability.

Apology accepted

Reconciliation is more than baring your soul to a confessor—it’s a place to remember that we’re always forgiven.

Catholics are less than two percent of the population of Norway, and there are only nine priests in our diocese. That means one does not have much choice of confessors. When I was at a meeting in Ireland, therefore, it occurred to me that I could ask one of the abbots there to hear my confession.

Fast Food

Abstaining from chicken nuggets and burgers during Lent can teach us about caring for animals, our neighbors, and the Earth as much as it does about self-control.

I once thought that to be Catholic meant to eat meat. It wasn’t a holiday without Mass, Polish sausage, and turkey or ham. Even my family Christmas cookie recipe’s secret ingredient is lard. God gave us dominion of animals. Meat on our plate is God’s delicious gift to us.